Viia was fined 1.3 billion yuan for tax evasion, and her livestreaming career was banned. There is no shortcut to wealth.

[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
 
Case review
Investigation revealed that Huang Wei (online alias: Viya) evaded taxes totaling RMB 643 million between 2019 and 2020 through means such as concealing personal income and filing false tax returns by fabricating business transactions to convert the nature of her income, and underpaid other taxes amounting to RMB 60 million.

 
 

During the tax investigation, Huang Wei was able to cooperate and voluntarily paid back 500 million yuan in taxes, while also proactively reporting tax-related illegal activities that the tax authorities had not yet discovered. Taking the above circumstances into comprehensive consideration, the Inspection Bureau of the Hangzhou Municipal Tax Service, State Taxation Administration, recovered the taxes owed by Huang Wei, imposed late payment penalties, and levied fines, totaling 1.341 billion yuan. Among these, for the 500 million yuan in taxes evaded by concealing income but voluntarily paid back, and the 31 million yuan in underpaid taxes proactively reported, a penalty of 0.6 times was imposed, amounting to 319 million yuan; for the 27 million yuan in taxes evaded by concealing income but not voluntarily paid back, a penalty of 4 times was imposed, amounting to 109 million yuan; and for the 116 million yuan in underpaid taxes evaded by fabricating business transactions to convert the nature of income, a penalty of 1 time was imposed, amounting to 116 million yuan.
 
Recently, the Inspection Bureau of the Hangzhou Municipal Tax Service has legally served the tax administrative penalty decision to Huang Wei.

 
 

On December 20, Viya apologized on her Weibo, stating, “I am willing to bear all consequences for my mistakes.”
 
 
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China" Article 201
If a taxpayer uses deceptive or concealing means to make false tax declarations or fails to declare, evading a relatively large amount of tax that accounts for more than 10% of the tax payable, they shall be sentenced to up to three years in prison or criminal detention and fined; if the amount is huge and accounts for more than 30% of the tax payable, they shall be sentenced to three to seven years in prison and fined.
 
If a withholding agent uses the means described in the preceding paragraph to fail to pay or underpay the taxes that have been withheld or collected, and the amount is relatively large, the penalty shall be imposed in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
 
For multiple acts of the conduct described in the preceding two paragraphs that have not been dealt with, the cumulative amount shall be calculated.
 
If a person commits the act described in the first paragraph but, after the tax authority issues a recovery notice in accordance with the law, pays the overdue taxes and surcharges and has already received an administrative penalty, criminal liability shall not be pursued; however, this does not apply if the person has been criminally punished for tax evasion or has received two or more administrative penalties from the tax authority within the past five years.

 
 

 
[1] The author's perspective
When the news of Viya's tax evasion broke, online public opinion immediately exploded, not only because of the celebrity effect but also due to the shocking revelation that livestream hosts have such high annual incomes! This time, Viya was willing to cooperate with the tax authority in paying the back taxes and fines, but some netizens are curious: after paying up, will she still face criminal penalties? Will she go to jail?
 
According to the first paragraph of the above legal provision, the penalty for tax evasion is imprisonment and a fine. Viya's tax evasion amount is sufficient to constitute this crime, but it is worth noting the last paragraph of this provision. If Viya actively cooperates in paying the back taxes and surcharges, meaning she has accepted the administrative penalty, she will no longer be subject to criminal penalties, unless she receives another administrative penalty from the tax authority for tax evasion within five years. In other words, just like Fan Bingbing and the recent internet celebrity Sherry, Viya will not go to jail for this.
In fact, from numerous incidents of this kind, we can observe that the tax evasion amounts involving celebrities and internet influencers are substantial. Could they have accomplished this alone? Certainly not. After all, such complex operations and criminal activities involving huge sums of money cannot be completed by a star or streamer lacking professional knowledge. Therefore, behind them exists a team specifically providing "one-stop" tax evasion services, and these individuals should also be eliminated along with the celebrities and streamers. Otherwise, after banning one Viya, these teams can still create countless more like her.
 
It is reported that following this incident, many streamers have voluntarily paid their back taxes, demonstrating that the positive impact of this case goes beyond merely addressing a single legal violation—it serves as a warning to others. As Li Jiaqi put it, “Run your business honestly and stream with integrity”—that is the true path to prosperity, not relying on crooked shortcuts. In addition, tax authorities must strengthen tax supervision to foster a fairer tax environment, ensuring that celebrity artists and internet streamers who dare to cross the line have no courage or opportunity to evade taxes.